Today’s Sports Fans - Part 2

to beat up the referee. You tried to pull the referee out of being punched and kicked, and then security got involved, and we all know how that ended. But you physically had to risk your well being to save an NBA referee. And that gets me to talking about fan violence. And that was way back seventy six, So many decades later, and we see it happening a lot of times after your team has won the championship, has won the Stanley Cup, has won the Super Bowl, whatever,

And I want to talk about that. You and I when we first arranged you coming on tonight, I brought this subject up to chat with you about it, and I forgot that you were directly involved in a fan violence melee and what can we do.

maiming people and so forth. But to a degree on the same level, I saw the city of Detroit just about destroyed in nineteen sixty eight when the Tigers wound up winning the World Series. Thank goodness they had won. If they had lost, there's no telling what would have happened. And I've seen so many other cities that wind up being, you know, being the victims of millions of dollars of taxpayers money that has to be used to repair the city. I remember in sixty seven when the Red Sox won,

I remember how the fans had stormed the field. Now, remember it had been twenty let me see, forty forty six to sixty seven, twenty one years since the Red Sox had even sniffed basically being in a World Series. They got there in forty eight in the playoff, but lost to Cleveland. But going back to that time, I remember watching on TV and seeing the fans just storming the field. When Lonboard got the last out. People were running all over the place, grabbing players. They tried to

rip Lonboard's jersey off. Yeah, yep, well it's uniform. But I go back to nineteen sixty five, three years before, when John Hailchak stole the ball and Habilcheck could barely get off of that court. I mean they pulled the stirrups on his jersey so hard they left deep welts in his shoulders, both shoulders, and they had to fight to get off the floor. I remember, I remember so

many of these situations. They become They become nauseating to me for one reason because I spoke to a couple of psychiatrists o years and a couple of sociologists, and they all come up with the same thing. This is that release point that people who are normally not that level in thinking anyway get a chance to get off. They get a chance to say I can go out now and do something in the midst of a celebration that nobody's going to say anything about. Think about this, Morgan,

two thousand and four. Now, I'll give you a couple of dates going back. Let's just go back to two thousand and four. A girl was killed that night in the midst of the Red Sox celebration, lost their life. Dumb, dumb bol To. Something hit her. But if please're trying to quell a riot, And I'm just saying that these

things they're so badly out of proportion. Now it makes every single mayor of every single city, every governor of every single state copprehensive in regards to how much security can we actually get to make this thing fairly safe.

And I talked to my sisters, my brothers, and I asked him. I told him, I said, please just in me your favorites. If you're going to the parade, please be careful because those people are going to be drunk. That's another reason a lot of these, a lot of this has to do with alcohol. Lot these and people think that now I can drink. Now I can do this, and now I can pour champagne all over year, all

over my head. Most of them can't afford champagne, so they're going to pour a cheap beer over their head and if enough of it gets down, if enough of it gets down into their stomach, then they're truly intoxicated. But I remember the Philly celebration, and then I remember when Julius Irving's team won in eighty three, and I remember they had these ceremony. First they brought the team the big parade to right the to the field they used the I believe the Phillies Baseball field, and then

they went inside. But I've seen this too many times, Morgan, and there have been deaths that had been associated to this. I remember during the Lakers, during the Lakers' House in years in the eighties, they had all kinds of security all through the parade route, all away, all the beginning through and at the end of the parade booth. But

you just can't control that many people. And then of course, you know, the governors got together across the United States and the mayors and they said, maybe we shouldn't have these things. Well, this is a release to a lot of fans that the good fans are not going to act like that. They're not going to go out there and do crazy stuff. They're just going to cheer their team on Bravo as they ride by or whatever, cheers and so forth. Yet at the same time, you still

gotta worry. I even fired off a missus to Patrick Mahomes because when that first one, not last year, the one before, he was pouring beer on himself, pouring beer into the stands. And I've known Patrick since he was a little boy. I've known his father. His father, Pat Mahome's senior pictures fout the eleven Major League teams. So I saw Patrick when he was a child basically, and I said, you know, I know a lot has changed, but you're a role model. You got to understand what

you're doing. He's talking out cans of beer into the stands, you know, the full gans like Corys beer, whatever I can of beer. I said, if you throw that thing and it hits somebody in the eye or something, they can lose an eye. Now, if you also, let's go back a couple of years ago. Let's go let's go back to the website celebration of two thousand and four wasn't If I'm right, Coorra's Doorna was injured in that. The manager's door was injured. You are right, Yeah, she

was injured in that. So I constantly see this, and I asked myself, you know what I'm watching is out here we go again, and I just hold my breath and say, please, let these people get home, Let the cops be able to do what they need to do. And I mean, I've seen the burning cars, I've seen all the damage done. And then you go down to you walk through that battle zone and next day and you say to yourself, this was supposed to be a happy occasion. This was supposed to be a celebration.

the following Tuesday. I do believe that's the seventh of January. Now, Jimmy Myers and I are here, we're talking about fan violence. Let me give you an example. Your mom and or dad, you're both, You're one or the other, doesn't matter. And you've taken your kids to go see the Patriots, the Celtics, the Bruins, the Red Sox, and it's just an everyday game. It's another game on the schedule. And i'll say Red

Sox for this example. You hear some leather lunged, loud mouth yelling ob seeing things about what he sees in the field good to bad Yankees or Red Sox, and you wish an usher would come and make this person behave because you don't want this embarrassing behavior in front

of your kids. Now, multiply that to you're on the parade route, you're in front of City Hall where the duckboats and the caravan of cars with all the players are on it, and the crowd is just unruly, and you fear for the safety, not of you, of your children. That is just a reality that happens. This is not a Twilight Zone imaginary episode.

Please let these people get home safely. I mean, I know they're going to be arrested. There always are some people are going to be spending night in jail and going to court the next day and getting a police record for something that they should not be getting a police record for. They should not be having to deal with the court system the way we have to. But this is our way of life. I mean, I remember, I remember at the times of some of the big

parades when the Yankees won in the sixties. That's what I really picked up sports. Yankees was the dominant team. Remember the year that Dodger beat the Yankees in sixty three. They swept them at Sandy Kopax, who was from Brooklyn. Oh, oh my goodness, he put a beat down on them like you would not believe. He took out twenty five batteries and two which game one. In Game four, they swept them, And I remember the parade in Los Angeles

afterwards pretty orderly. Nobody was tearing up anything. They were happy. That was sixty three. Then you come back to eighty when Magic Johnson's team won. Go up seventeen years and a whole bunch of things had changed since that time. I mentioned the sixty seven Red Sox mainly because the city was you know this is they have a piece on right now on your sports channel. It's called The Impossible Dream Year sixty seven. You should really watch it.

I mean everybody in this town should watch it. Remember this team are not won during the Ted Williams era. Basically he was in the forty six World Series and only hit like one. Twenty five Cardinals beat him, didn't And from then up to sixty seven basically nothing. And then Yas takes this town on this magical ride. I mean one of the Triple Crown great pitcher, I mean, great great hitter, Jim Lonboard, pitched his butt off coming

down the stretch they went on the last day. The fans were on the field, but I didn't see that kind of violence. Now, there was a lot of you know, I saw a lot of craziness out there. Then I spin up to when I become a reporter and I start covering some of these events, and I was there.

I was there when Chris Shamblers hit the home run in Yankee Stadium that won, that won the World the won the Pennant America Lick Pennant against Kansas City and Richard Chase was my cinematographer at WBZ at the time, and I remember Richard when when Chris Shamblers hit the ball, we both looked. I looked at Richard. We got to get on the field, We got to get out there. He says, take the microphone. I'm going to hold you

to my back. But going out in the middle of this, Morgan, it was like the most chaotic scene I have ever seen in my life up to that point. Now, I remember when fifth get the home run the year before, in seventy five. I was there a filmy bar. Yes, I mean they played they played the Hallelujah Chorus or whatever. That night. People were going nuts. But the Red Sox

didn't wind up winning. The Yankees won to get into the World Series in seventy six, did wound up getting swept by Cincinnati because Cincinnati beating the Red Sox in seventy five and came back and swept the Yankees. And said, but this night, Chris Shambles is home run. I remember the damage that was done to that field. Now Shambles is trying to run around the basis. This is a true story, Morgan. Chris Shamers can tell you this to this day because I was there. Richard Chase and I

right out on the field was shooting. Richard Chase is sixty six, so he's shooting down to the crowd. I'm owning the microphone for sound, for natural sounds, because they're doing films, and people were ripping up grass off the field and stuffing it in their mouths, in their pockets and there, you know, in their paths whatever. And I'm looking at all these people going nuts. Now I know the Yankees had not one since it sends start. Let

me see, when was the last time. I'm in the series sixty four and they lost to the Cardinals and twelve years of gone by. Young were used to losing back to winning back in the thirty forties and fifties just about every other year whatever. So I'm watching shambles run around the basis. By the time he got the second he was mobed, Morgan. I mean, it was like a sea of humanity just fucked this man up. And he was pushing and shoving. They were ripping his jersey off.

I saw scratches on him where people had torn his skin. He got to third base, Morgan, We got the third base, and he was smart. Chase and I were Richard Chase and Ire on the mound. By this time, he ran into the dugout, down the steps and into the locker room, up the tunnel into the Yankees' locker room. Now the Yankees are on the first base side. This is the thirsd base dugout. He ran into the visitor's dugout just to get away from the cloud. Now by this time,

everything is a madhouse, Morgan. It's just getting more and more intense. It's just getting wild, right, So we start backing up into the Yankees dugout, and I'm standing there and I see this little black man sitting on the Yankees bench, and I knew who he was. And the cops started swinging billy clubs, knocking people down, blood slime all over the place, and they went after this man. Dance says, you're listening to this. I saw this with my own two eyes. Richard Chase saw this with his

own two eyes. And they started approaching this little man, and I ran over and dove in the middle of it. I said, don't touch him. This is Willie Randolph's father, Willy randalls the second basement for the Yankees, right Willie Randolph. Willy Randolph came out of the dugout and just his shirt in his tants. I mean it's a T shirt and pants, grabbed me and his father and started pulling his father comfortably to beat his father into the ground.

They thought it had stolen Willy Randall's glove. Willie Randall had tossed it to his father in the midst of the celebration. These stories that I remember for the rest of my life. But I remember the chaos that caused the cops to come down into the dugout and get ready to hit this older gentleman. Miss Randall's one the nicest people in the world. Willie Randolman could still tell you the story to this day. So he said, you know you helped save my father. I said no, I

just happened to be there. But I kne who your father was, which was much more important because they were beating up everybody with your chase had a camera, so they weren't going to hit him. Plus he was sixty six. Jimmy Mius was Jimmy MIAs said, the cord wrapped around him like a little baby. I was at taxed to his back, so they weren't going to hit me because

I got the microphone in my hand. But they were going after this little old guy, and he just said, and Willie ran off and grabbed him from the from the lower seats and pulled him into the dugout wallast was going on. But this is the kind of stuff

I'm telling about. When stuff like this happens, things get out of control, and they get out of control fast, and before you know it, somebody's laying on the ground, either seriously injured or in the case of the young lady at the at the at the Red Sox celebration dead. I mean, that takes everything away from any type of celebration. I think I'm pretty sure their parents settled some kind of lawsuit. It's not gonna bring their child back. Five

million dollars tens. That's not going to bring your loved one back. And all this person did was went to the game and to celebrate when they want, that's all. And they were in Saint Louis when they won, so I think this was going on during that time everybody went to Famiway Park or whatever. I'm just saying, this is so crazy, Morgan, and it's just too hard to try to break down to people to make them understand. One, I don't drink them, so maybe that pushes me to

a different level. I've never been a drinker. I won't become a drinker now because I'm diabetics and there's no way I'm going to put alcohol in my body. But I would tell anyone who drinks, if you really want to go to these things, you really want to appreciate what this moment is about, go sober, drink afterwards, Go home and drink afterwards. You don't have to drink before you get there. Yeah, but no, you don't have to drink before you get there. Drink while you're there, and

then drink as the cloud is dispersing. And then I also know, I also know from clear experience that alcohol looses loosens inhibitions in certain people, sometimes the wrong things, a lot of times the wrong things. But I'm saying, Morgan, Morgan. But when you're a victim of it, it's different. I mean, I know, I've heard the N words flattered when people get drunk or whatever, and I say to myself, they would never say that if they were sober, They would

never act like that if they were sober. But now they're in a free flow situation. We can say anything we want, we can do anything we want. No life doesn't work like that. I looked at the Dodgers parade this year. Well I looked at the Dodgers parade this year, and they had so much security on that parade route.

It was incredible. And go back to the days when they used to go back to the Giants winning the Super Bowl, the Yankees winning during those years, Jeter's years, and the two Super Bowls, even Lauren Taylor Super Bowl. That parade down to Canyatar Heroes is one of the most dynamic things you'd ever want to see. I'm telling you, if you don't have to be a New York fan to understand the magnitude of how they get two to three million people in that one confined area and cops

are all over the place. I really ever heard any real bad things. I'm sure there are. I'm sure there are, but they do a pretty damn good job of doing that one. And when the WNBA women won this year, when the Liberty won, their parade was pretty pretty tame too considering. And I think they had two million at that parade because that's the first time the Liberty they ever won a Titland the twenty eight years of the WNBA. Yeah, it was a big deal.

like that. Ye, and her name was was Vicky snow Grove. And you know, this is the thing that bothers me is we don't remember these people that are innocent victims, you know. And I'm glad you mentioned that that woman, and God rest her soul. She's a young girl, very young, very young girl.

to really controlled. And sometimes, like you folks were mentioning on the program tonight, the more psychology sometimes spreads to the police, and the law enforcement at least got going on. It's crazy like they were going to attract the poor black man who is the father of a baseball player and he's trying to beat him up, you know, and and I think that, you know, it's sad to say, you know, you hate to put axample on people celebrating, but they might be better off to maybe not even

have these celebrations. I hate to say that, but I think that might be.

millions of people want to celebrate. The Celtics had not won a title since Paul Pierce's team back in two thousand and eight, so basically this was the time for everybody to be celebrating. You know, they had lost the Golden State in twenty twenty two, and everybody thought that might have been the time. But my whole thing is that what compels someone in their mind to lose that sanity section of their mind in the midst of a celebration.

That's not what this was supposed to be about. And I think that's I don't say it's a mental defect in everybody that does this. I'm just saying that the inhibitors, the inhibitors in your mind, they just lose. You just lose. They just lose themselves. And you say we can do anything we want to do. No, you can't.

we won the game. My brother and I were walking home we lived in Jamaica, plane walking down to Eagleston Square, and five kids, five kids from English, jumped us because they lost the game and just kind of suggest kids, Yeah, it's a good example.

Police had to use pepper spray, They had to use mace to get some type of control of that crowd, and that crowd stormed to field so fast that the cops they couldn't control it. So by the time they started spraying, they said a couple one hundred people were sprayed with pepper spray. Anyone out there you're listening to me, if you ever get hit with pepper spray in your

eyes or whatever, you could lose your sight. So you know, you better be thinking long and hard before you want to run out there on the field.

to the main floor. So two thousand people going down the escalator.

became a little dangerous to me. And I watched it. I was watching the whole thing from the studio, and I said, are monitoring this? And I said, well, the cops over there, or they here, they wherever or wherever. But I remember that Pature's fans that night were so sad in regards to not completing the perfect season or whatever. But I spun back a couple of years before when the Red Sox won in two thousand and four and the Patriots won in two thousand and four. I remember

both parades. Remember well, the death of the girl obviously was terrible, but I remember when the Patriots won that year, they would think of was the second of their back to back two thousand and four to us back to back Super Bowl in it. During that run, I remember that the security for that parade was so great. Now, this is when duck boats really started to become popular because of that time, they weren't using duck boats, but they started using them then. And I remember seeing the

parades because I got to watch all this stuff. I got to cover it. And even this year's Dodgers parade had to cover. And I'll see the Super Bowl parade or whatever in Michigan, their parade when they won last year. It's just like I try to tell you, Morgan, it's it's a phenomenon now that to me, we may have outlived or we may have this, this celebration may become obsolete. That's what I'm saying.

talk to people, say what can you do? You're cording off the streets, you do this, you do that, you do that, and then you're at the mercy of what you pray are the more sane people or the people who know how to control themselves and just cheer. I mean, if you're gonna be up, you're being up in a building, throw confetti down on the on the on the parade or whatever. But I don't know about this one, Brodner,

And this one, this one constantly baffles me. I sit back with this one sometimes in I say, where are we going with this? Where are we going?

I remember they hadn't won since twenty twenty, so these people had a chance to, you know, ramp up for this and so forth. And I'll believe me, they didn't think they we want to beat the Yankees in five games. They we did not think that, So it was more less a shock factor. Plus there was also the aspect that was thrown into the mix, whereas even some of the newscasters talked about this parade is being dedicated to

the memory of Fernando Valenzuela. We would like for this thing to be peaceful, and the people responded because remember his number was on the back of the mound for the first two games. His thirty four was at the back, was at the back of the mound, and they when they came back and they won it, you know, it's in La with the number there, everybody talked about Fernando then, and it's I don't know, you know, because I got a lot of friends in La. But I watched the

whole parade. I didn't see any I didn't see too much craziness. I saw people that were under control, I say more than I saw Golden State's parades too. I saw the Warriors parades. They were all pretty pretty pretty much under control. I mean, Golden State in San Francisco was a mellow place, so most of those people were just happy. And remember once they won that first one in two thousand and fifteen, they lost sixteen and it won seventeen and eighteen. I mean, they were like, this

is this is the thing that we do. Plus they hold it their meeting. I mean, the end of the parade is out there by the water, the bay, a part of the bay. That place is beautiful. I said to myself. They got it separated, they got it open and the police can control what's going on on the stage. And then again once they won in twenty two, same thing. But I don't know, I don't know. Well, we did a lot about the Morgan.

her her staff their props. They deserve it.

you know the situation in the Middle East. It hurts my heart because I heard the newscast saying there will be no Christmas tree in a certain places. They're forty five thousand people dead and so forth. And yet at the same time I saw this evening on the news that they're investigating the investigation for corruption of Benjamin Ett. Yahoo is continuing. He's the Prime minister of the country and he and his wife were accused of stealing millions

from their people. There's got to be some justice in this world somewhere. But as I approached these minutes, as I approached the moment, the day of our Savior, and I think about he's looking down, and I pray every day for the world. I say, I don't know, I don't know where this is going to wind up, but I just pray for all of us, Morgan, because we need.